Toilet seat closer



Patented Mar. 25, 1941 Y A i UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2,236,466 yTOILET SEAT CLOSER George Washington Cashwell, Elizabethtown,

Application October 7, 1940, Serial No. 360,196 2 Claims. (Cl. 4-251)This invention relates to outdoor toilets and shown in dotted lines inFigure 1, I have promore particularly to a means for automatically videda seat cover closing lever 24 which is pivclosing the cover for theseat. otallyrmounted on a pivot 25 secured to a rafter An object of thisinvention is to provide in 26 forming part of the roof supporting meansan outdoor toilet, a hinged seat and means confor supporting the roofI3. 5 nected to Vthe door by which the seat is auto- The lever or arm 24at its lower end is provided matically closed upon opening of the door.with a pair of cover engaging arms which in Another object of thisinvention is to provide front elevation are of substantially L-shape andin a device of this type, a means whereby the include a horizontallydisposed arm 21 provided swinging of the cover to a closedposition isat. one end thereof with a rearwardly disposed 10 cushioned so that thecover will lightly drop to extension 28 through which a fastening devicea closed position. 29 engages in order to secure the extension 28 Afurther object of this invention is to provide to the lower'end portionof the lever or arm 24. a device of this kind which can be used for Thearm 21 at its opposite or outer end is formed lo closing a plurality ofseat covers at one operation. with a substantially Sshaped extension 3Bas 15-5 To the foregoing objects andto others which shown. in Figure 1,which has a free end 3| of may hereinafter appear, the inventionconsists arcuate configuration which is directed forwardly of the novelconstruction, combination and arand which is adapted to contact with theseat rangement of parts as will be more specifically cover 2| at a pointslightly below the upper end referred to and illustrated in theaccompanying of the cover 2| when this cover is in a raised 20 drawingwherein are shown embodiments of the position. invention, but it is tobe understood that changes, A second seat cover lowering membergenerally variations and modifications may be resorted to designated as32 is secured to the opposite side which fall within the scope of theinvention as of the lever 24 and is of a configuration similar claimed.to the cover closing means designated 21, 28, 3!) 25 In the draWingand3|. The cover closing member l32 is adapted Figure 1 is a verticalsection taken on line to engage the cover 22 and extends oppositely ofFigure 2 of an outdoor toilet having a device from the cover closingmeans for the cover 2|.

constructed according to an embodiment of this A second rock lever 33 ispivotally mounted on invention mounted on the seat and connected a pivot34, which is carried by the rafter 26 for- 30 to the seat cover. wardlyof the pivot 25 and a link 35 is pivotally Figure 2 is a fragmentarysectional view taken connected at one end as at 36 to the lever 24 onthe line 2-2 of Figure 1. adjacent the upper end of this lever and isalso 3 Figure 3 is a fragmentary section-al view taken connected |bymeans of a pivot 31 to the lever r on the line 3-3 of Figure 1. 33 at apoint upwardly from the lower end of o Figure 4 is a longitudinalsection taken through this latter lever. one of the seat covercushioning means. A link 38 is connected at One end t0 an eye Referringto the drawing, the numeral I0 or fastening member 39 which engages thelower 40 designates generally a housing including a front portion of theforward rock lever 33 and the 0 wall II, a rear wall I2, -a roof I3 anda oor I 4. opposite end of the link 38 is connected to an A door I5 ishingedly secured to the front wall eye or fastening member 40 which isxed to by hinges I6 and a toilet seat |1 is disposed the door |5 at apoint closely adjacent the hinge interiorly of the housing ID, beingsecured at its I5. A door closing spring 4| is connected at one rearedge to the rear wall I2 and secured to an end to an eye or fasteningmember 42 which is 45 upright I8 which extends upwardly from the Xed t0the raftel 26 and the OPIJOSG 8nd 0f `bottom wall I4. ythe spring 4| isconnected to an eye or fastening A seat I1 in the present instance isprovided member 43 which is fixed to the door 40. The with `a pair ofspaced apart openings I9 and 2|] spring 4| is adapted to constantly urgethe door and a pair of seat covers 2| and 22 are hingedly I5 to a closedposition. 50

secured to a strip 23 which is fixed to the upper In order to provide ameans whereby the seat surface of the seat I1 rearwardly of the openingscovers 2| and 22 may be cushioned in their down- |9 and 20. 1n order toprovide a means whereby ward swinging movement, I have provided a pairthe seat covers 2| and 22 may be automatically of dash-pots generallydesignated as 44 and 45 swung to a closed position, which is theposition which are disposed inwardly from the confront- 55 ing edges ofthe two covers 2| and 22. These dash-pots or cushioning members 44 and45 are of like construction and as shown in Figure 4 include a cylinder46 having heads 41 and 48 at the opposite ends of the cylinder 46 and apiston 49 is slidable in the cylinder 46.

A piston rod 5D is secured at one end to the piston 49 and is slidablethrough the head 48. The piston 49 may be formed with an opening 5|therethrough which is adapted to gradually release air or other fluid sothat the movement of the piston 49 will be cushioned. The extended endof the piston rod 5|! is formed with an opening 52 through which an eye53 carried by a piston operating link 54 engages. The lower end of thelink 54 is secured as at 55 to one edge of the seat 2|. The cushioningmember 45 is of similar construction to the cushioning member 44 andincludes a piston rod 56 which is connected by a link 51 to the seat 22as by a pivotal means 53.

In the use and operation of this device, the seat cover 2| is raisedduring the use of the seat and in its raised position, the seat 2| willrest against the seat lowering member 32. In this position, the cover 2|is inclined rearwardly from the vertical and when the door |5 is openwith the cover 2| in a raised position, the swinging of the door |5 onthe hinge means I6 will pull the forward lever 33 forwardly and the rearlever 24 will also be pulled forwardly by means of the connecting link35. Forward swinging of the lower end of the lever 24 will cause thecover 2| to be pushed forwardly off center and the cover 2| will thengravitatingly swing downwardly to a closed position, which is the dottedline position shown in Figure 1. After the cover 2| is swung forwardlyby the lever 24 and the closing member 3|, the further downward swingingof the cover 2| by gravity will be cushioned by means of the dash-pot44. This dash-pot will permit the cover 2| to gradually swing downwardlyto a closed position and will eliminate the slam or sudden swingingdownwardly of the cover 2|, as would be the case if the dash-pot 44 wereeliminated.

What I claim is:

1. In a toilet including a housing having a roof, front, rear and sidewalls, a floor and a door opening in its front, a door hinged to saidfront wall for closing said opening, a toilet seat in the housingsupported above said floor and a cover for and hinged to said seat; avertically disposed cover closing lever swingingly suspended at itsupper end from said roof and having laterally extending means at itslower end engageable with the back of the cover when the latter israised for swinging the cover downwardly to closed position, a secondlever swingingly suspended at its upper end from said roof forwardly ofsaid rst lever, a link pivotally connected to said levers intermediatethe ends of the latter, a second link pivotally connected to said doorand to the lower end of said second lever whereby to rock said secondlever forwardly upon opening of the door whereby the first lever ismoved in a like direction for closing said seat, and a spring connectedto the door and to the roof for normally urging said door to said closedposition and for holding said first lever in an inoperative position.

2. In a toilet, a housing having a door opening, a hinged door forclosing said opening, a toilet seat within the housing, a cover for andhinged to seat, seat, a vertically disposed cover closing leverswingingly suspended at its upper end disposed over the seat and havingits lower end provided with means engageable with the back of the cover,when the latter is raised for swinging the cover downwardly to closedposition on the operation of said lever, a vertically disposed secondlever swingingly suspended at its upper end and disposed forwardly ofsaid rst lever, a link between and pivotally connected to said leversintermediate their ends, a second link disposed below the first linkpivotally connected to said door and to said second lever whereby torock the latter forwardly upon the opening of the door to therebyoperate the first lever for closing said seat, and a spring connected tothe door and to the housing for normally urging said door to closedposition and for holding said rst lever in an inoperative position.

GEORGE WASHINGTON CASHWELL.

